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THE FIVE THOUSAND FED.

day and night in His temple; and | wipe away all tears from their eyes,

He that sitteth on the throne shall

dwell among them; and God shall |

 

“
me

Rev. vii. 15, 17.

 

CCLXXXYV.

yHE five | HOUSAND FED.

 
    

Cyc ESUS went to a desert
A ss place near Bethsaida, and
SJ a multitude of people fol-
<S/| lowed Him there. They
came to hear Jesus preach ;

 
    

and they stayed many hours attend-

ing to what He said. At last it
began to grow dark; and then the
disciples came to Jesus, and asked
Him to send the people away, that
they might buy themselves food;
for they had fasted all day. But
Jesus said, “No; I will not send
them. away fasting, for they might
faint by the way. .Give them food
here to eat.” The disciples answer-
ed, “ We have not food enough for
them. We have only five loaves,
and two fishes; and what are they
among somany?” But Jesus told
his disciples to make the people sit
down. ‘There were about five thou-
sand men, and a great many women
and children; and they all sat down
on the green grass, by fifties in a
company. Then Jesus took the
bread, and the fishes, and lifted up
his eyes to Heaven, and thanked
God who had given them this food ;
and broke the bread in pieces, and
divided the fishes, and told the
disciples to feed the multitude who
were sitting round. So the dis-
ciples took the bread and_ fishes,

 

and gave some to every one of the
people. But was not the food soon
all gone? No; Jesus made the five
loaves and the two fishes more than
enough for that great multitude;
they all eat, and were filled. And
when they had finished, Jesus told
his disciples to gather up the
crumbs, and little pieces that were
left, that nothing might be lost; so
they filled twelve baskets with frag-
ments. ‘This may teach us not to
waste the food which God has given
us. Many poor hungry people would
be very thankful for the little pieces
of bread and meat which we do
not want, and sometimes carelessly
throw away.

This is a very wonderful miracle.
It may remind us of some miracles
we read about before, in the Old
Testament history—of the increase
of the poor widow’s oil and meal,
which fed Elijah, and the woman,
and her son, so many days; and of
the food which God sent to His
servant Elisha, and the sons of the
prophets.

Was it the power of Elijah and
Elisha that multiplied the oil, and
the meal, and the bread ? No; when
the prophets worked those miracles,
they did so by the power of God;
but when Jesus increased the loaves